The Navel of Venus

Dear fellow navel gazers,

Omphaloskepsis is quite simply summed up as the "contemplation of one's navel in aid to meditation." For me, even the very word "navel" has a lovely dreamy and introspective quality - Omphalos translating as "navel" or "hub" in ancient Greek, and skepsis "the act of looking." So I think i'll consider this little series of posts as my very own "hub of looking," and i'd be honoured if you would give it the odd glance every now and then. 

Navels have had an essential role to play throughout history, what with the absence of Eve's own bellybutton and the equally important creation myth of the magnificent and delicious tortellini...

 ...Once upon a time, the rowdy trio of Mars, Venus and Bacchus descended upon an Inn for a night of passionate merrymaking. The Innkeeper could not contain his curiosity and peeped through the key hole - lo' and behold he had never witnessed such a beauteous navel as that of Venus herself! Thus moved, he spent the night down in his kitchens, where he conjured up the culinary wholesome glory that is the ring-shaped pasta known as the tortellini...

Such a beautiful little twist of our own anatomies, each utterly unique, a mark of our entries into this world. If the Goddess of Beauty is honored for hers, perhaps our own might be worth a little contemplation on occasion...